The Mycological Society of San Francisco November 2009 vol 6008

Don Hemmes

Don Hemmes completed his BS at CC Iowa under past NAMA president Don Huffman who advised him to go to Hawaii for grad school to work with Hans Hohl on slime molds On finishing his MS and PhD in Microbiology at the Univ of HI Don followed Hans to the Cytology Institute in Zuumlrich for a post-doc on sporulation in Phytophthora Don returned to U HI in 1973 and continued working on Phytopthora in Hawaii He later joined Dennis Desjardin at SFSU to

MycoDigest - Myrmicine Mutualists and Formicine Foragers A Tale of AntFungal Coevolution

Peter G WernerOne of the many fascinating stories of fungal symbiosis is that of fungus-farming ants

found in the New World tropics and subtropics This relationship is agricultural in nature and is analogous in many ways to the human domestication of crop plants and the resulting changes in human lifestyles The primary players in this complex interaction are ants of the attine group (Tribe Attini) and ldquoattine fungirdquo mainly lepiotaceous fungi of the LeucoprinusLeucoagaricus group or in some cases coral fungi allied to Pterula It has also been found to involve at least one other partner an actinomycete bacterium that lives on the surface of the antsrsquo bodies

In all forms of this symbiosis the ants collect a rich organic substrate which they deposit in underground chambers The attine fungus which grows throughout these chambers after initial inoculation by the founding queen then spreads into on the new substrate Unlike termite-associated fungi attine fungi typically do not produce macroscopic fruiting bodies and instead are restricted to a wholly mycelial or even yeast morphology In some attine fungal species the mycelia produce structures called gongylidia small sterile structures that serve as food for the ants

The ants benefit from this system in that the fungi transform organic matter that is largely inedible to animals into an edible mass of mycelium or yeast The fungus benefits in not only getting a rich food source from the ants but in also being physically cultivated and protected from predators by the ants as well as chemically protected by compounds manufactured by the actinomycete found on the antsrsquo bodies The latter defense is particularly important as this mutualism also universally involves a parasitic fungus Escovopus an anamorphic ascomycete related to Cordyceps and Hypomyces Typically this parasite is largely kept in check in the attine fungal gardens but in some cases can take over with devastating results to the colony Escovopus and the antfungusactinomycete system appear to be locked in a long-term ldquoevolutionary arms racerdquo being selected for defenses and counter-defenses against each other over evolutionary time

There is a great deal of species diversity among the fungus-cultivating attine ants and a variety of specialized cultivation types have arisen The most general type is engaged in by the ldquolowerrdquo attine ants which live in small colonies with relatively unspecialized castes and provide a mixed substrate of plant material and detritus for their fungi The ldquohigherrdquo attine ants have larger colonies and often numerous castes that are highly specialized to various tasks of food gathering and fungal cultivation The most specialized group are

The History of Mycology in Hawaii

MycoDigest1

Speaker for November 17th 20091

Announcements2

Mendo Woodlands Foray 20092

Whatrsquos Bookinrsquo3

MSSF Fungus Fair3

Pickled Lactarius4

Culinary Corner6

MSSF November Calendar8

November 17th MSSF Meeting Speaker

Continued on page 7

MycoDigest is dedicated to the scientific review of mycological information

Continued on page 7

Photo courtesy of Peter Werner

Page 2 Mycena News November 2009

SF Concourse Exhibition Center 635 8th St Brannen For the first time the MSSF will have an information table at

the annual Green Festival event in San Francisco The Festival hosts renowned speakers and educators (including Paul Stamets of Fungi Perfecti) in the sustainability movement alongside a variety of eco businesses live music and delicious vegetarian food MSSF is attending this year to help spread awareness of the fungal kingdom and our activities to a broader public Hours are Friday from 12pm-7pm and Saturday from 10am-7pm and Sunday from 11am-6pm We need volunteers at the booth to sign up new members provide wild display mushrooms etc Contact David Gardella ltdavid_gardellahotmailcomgt For more information go to wwwgreenfestivalsorg

David Arorarsquos Annual Thanksgiving Weekend Mendocino Mushroom Foray amp Class Friday Nov 27-Sunday Nov 29

Guided forays lectures feasts and ID workshop Guests this year include William Rubel noted cookbook author amp culinary historian $250 includes lodging For info and reservations email maxfuncruziocom or go to davidaroracom

Yuba Watershed Foray - Friday Saturday Dec 12th 9am- 4pmSaturday field collecting will wrap up with afternoon lectures

identification tasting discussions and fungus-inspired activities for the whole family Saturday event $2200 (YWI members $1800 under 18 free)

December 11th evening lecture Sacred Mushrooms Paths in History and In Myth with Dale Pendell - 7$ (members 5$)

For more information contact Daniel at 5302923589 or danmadroneyahoocom (no registration necessary)

SOMA Wild Mushroom Camp 2010 January 16-18 2010 For the 13th annual SOMA Wild Mushroom Camp we are

planting a theme Trees and Mushrooms Mushroom forays gourmet mushroom cuisine classes amp

workshops on mushroom identification cooking dyeing felting polypore paper-making medicine making photography cultivation and much more

Featured speakers Tom Bruns and Tom Volk Register online at wwwsomamushroomsorg

SatSunday November 21st-22d - Humboldt Bay Mycological Society Fungus Fair

Redwood Acres Fairgrounds Eureka CA

SatSunday December 4th-5th - MSSF Mushroom FairLawrence Hall of Science Berkeley

See page 3 for details and how to volunteer

SatSunday January 9th-10th 2010 Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz Fungus Fair

Details TBA at httpwwwfungusfedorg

ANNOuNCeMeNTS Mendocino Woodlands ForayNovember 20-22 2009Green Festival november 13-15 Fri-sun

Featuring Gary Lincoff author of The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms

Register online atwwwmssforgMendo

Deep in the Mendocino woods MSSF members fellow mushroom enthusiasts friends and family gather once again for our annual north coast fungal rite of autumn This weekend-long spectacular mycological event includes guided forays a variety of classes cooking demos workshops presentations and activities and special programs for children - and plenty of mushrooms

All on-site meals and lodging (Friday night through Sunday lunch) are included in the basic $150 dollar per person member rate $75 for children aged 5-12 years (if accompanied by a paid adult) A reduced rate of $90 per person ($45 child) is available for those staying at off-site lodging Non-MSSF members please add $25 per adult $15 for children (You might as well become a member)

Important Note The Camp 1 kitchen and dining hall we have long used is currently under renovation so we will be moving further down the road this year to Camp 2 The lovely Camp 2 grounds are more level with better parking facilities than Camp 1 however the cabins are a bit more rustic with screened windows (ambient air) and no fireplaces Registrants will be offered the option of using our familiar cabins at Camp 1 if they prefer to drive the three miles between camps to attend activities Please inform the registrar if you prefer this option at the time of making your reservation

For more information about the camp go to wwwMendocinoWoodlandsorg

Mendocino Woodlands Foray 2009 Weekend Schedule

Friday 3 - 9 Check in Camp 2 Mendocino Woodlands330 ndash 530 Early Bird Foray 6 - 7 Potluck appetizers7 - 10 Dinner8 30 pm Fungimental Mycophagy presentation by DC

(schedule continued on page 6)

Guided Forays

FunGus Fairs

Page 2 Mycena News November 2009

SF Concourse Exhibition Center 635 8th St Brannen For the first time the MSSF will have an information table at

the annual Green Festival event in San Francisco The Festival hosts renowned speakers and educators (including Paul Stamets of Fungi Perfecti) in the sustainability movement alongside a variety of eco businesses live music and delicious vegetarian food MSSF is attending this year to help spread awareness of the fungal kingdom and our activities to a broader public Hours are Friday from 12pm-7pm and Saturday from 10am-7pm and Sunday from 11am-6pm We need volunteers at the booth to sign up new members provide wild display mushrooms etc Contact David Gardella ltdavid_gardellahotmailcomgt For more information go to wwwgreenfestivalsorg

David Arorarsquos Annual Thanksgiving Weekend Mendocino Mushroom Foray amp Class Friday Nov 27-Sunday Nov 29

Guided forays lectures feasts and ID workshop Guests this year include William Rubel noted cookbook author amp culinary historian $250 includes lodging For info and reservations email maxfuncruziocom or go to davidaroracom

Yuba Watershed Foray - Friday Saturday Dec 12th 9am- 4pmSaturday field collecting will wrap up with afternoon lectures

identification tasting discussions and fungus-inspired activities for the whole family Saturday event $2200 (YWI members $1800 under 18 free)

December 11th evening lecture Sacred Mushrooms Paths in History and In Myth with Dale Pendell - 7$ (members 5$)

For more information contact Daniel at 5302923589 or danmadroneyahoocom (no registration necessary)

SOMA Wild Mushroom Camp 2010 January 16-18 2010 For the 13th annual SOMA Wild Mushroom Camp we are

planting a theme Trees and Mushrooms Mushroom forays gourmet mushroom cuisine classes amp

workshops on mushroom identification cooking dyeing felting polypore paper-making medicine making photography cultivation and much more

Featured speakers Tom Bruns and Tom Volk Register online at wwwsomamushroomsorg

SatSunday November 21st-22d - Humboldt Bay Mycological Society Fungus Fair

Redwood Acres Fairgrounds Eureka CA

SatSunday December 4th-5th - MSSF Mushroom FairLawrence Hall of Science Berkeley

See page 3 for details and how to volunteer

SatSunday January 9th-10th 2010 Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz Fungus Fair

Details TBA at httpwwwfungusfedorg

ANNOuNCeMeNTS Mendocino Woodlands ForayNovember 20-22 2009Green Festival november 13-15 Fri-sun

Featuring Gary Lincoff author of The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms

Register online atwwwmssforgMendo

Deep in the Mendocino woods MSSF members fellow mushroom enthusiasts friends and family gather once again for our annual north coast fungal rite of autumn This weekend-long spectacular mycological event includes guided forays a variety of classes cooking demos workshops presentations and activities and special programs for children - and plenty of mushrooms

All on-site meals and lodging (Friday night through Sunday lunch) are included in the basic $150 dollar per person member rate $75 for children aged 5-12 years (if accompanied by a paid adult) A reduced rate of $90 per person ($45 child) is available for those staying at off-site lodging Non-MSSF members please add $25 per adult $15 for children (You might as well become a member)

Important Note The Camp 1 kitchen and dining hall we have long used is currently under renovation so we will be moving further down the road this year to Camp 2 The lovely Camp 2 grounds are more level with better parking facilities than Camp 1 however the cabins are a bit more rustic with screened windows (ambient air) and no fireplaces Registrants will be offered the option of using our familiar cabins at Camp 1 if they prefer to drive the three miles between camps to attend activities Please inform the registrar if you prefer this option at the time of making your reservation

For more information about the camp go to wwwMendocinoWoodlandsorg

Mendocino Woodlands Foray 2009 Weekend Schedule

Friday 3 - 9 Check in Camp 2 Mendocino Woodlands330 ndash 530 Early Bird Foray 6 - 7 Potluck appetizers7 - 10 Dinner8 30 pm Fungimental Mycophagy presentation by DC

(schedule continued on page 6)

Guided Forays

FunGus Fairs

Page 3Mycena News November 2009

ContributorsDorothy Beebee JR Blair David Campbell Pat George Curt Haney Don Hemmes Bob Sommer and Peter Werner

editing and LayoutDave Lubertozzi

Mycena News is the membersrsquo newsletter of the Mycological Society of San Francisco published monthly from September to May

Please e-mail photos comments corrections and correspondence to mycenanewsmssforg

To subscribe renew or make address changes please contact Alvaro Carvajal alvarocarvajalsbcglobalnet or (415) 695-0466

Past issues of Mycena News can be read on-line at wwwmssforg

November 2009 vol 6008

MSSF Officers 2009-2010President Dan Long(925) 945-6477danlongmssforg

Vice-President Lou Prestia(510) 597-0214louprestiacom

Secretary Phil Brown (510) 526-4325towltek2000msncom

Treasurer Henry Shaw(925) 943-3237shaw4llnlgov

Whatrsquos Bookinrsquo

40th ANNUALMSSF FUNGUS FAIR

at the LAWRENCE HALL OF SCIENCEDecember 5th and 6th 2009

We need your help

Mushroom collection foraysFriday 10 am to 2 pm

Contact Norm Andresen at nandresencomcastnet

Set up small tasks for all levels of experienceFriday December 4th

330 to 730 pm or 700 to 11 pm

Volunteers needed during the FairSaturday and Sunday 10 am to 5 pm

To sign up for Friday evening Saturday or Sunday shifts contact Stephanie Wright fungusfairbytewrightcom

Dinner will be provided Friday evening lunch will be provided Saturday and Sunday Shift

obligation is three and a half hours and includes free admission to the museum for the weekend

For more information go to httpwwwmssforgfungus-fairsindexhtml

Please help promote the Fair by putting up the enclosed poster in public places ndash libraries schools stores etc

This compact little book is designed to fit in your pocket and is packed with useful

information It contains 79 full-page color photos of the most familiar mushrooms Each corresponding page includes information on Identification edibility similar species habitat and range This pocket guide also includes sections on mushroom hunting mushroom poisoning mushroom family guide spore color chart and a detailed glossary

National Audubon Society (Pocket Guide) to Familiar Mushrooms An Andrew Stewart publishing edition by Peter Katsaros1990 Alfred A Knopf Inc Soft back 191 pages 4 X 6 inches Price $995 It will be available for sale at the next MSSF general meeting at a 10 discount to members in good standing ~Curt Haney

Page 4 Mycena News November 2009

Mushroomers are individualists linked only by a common interest in mushrooms There are no demographics that define us We are not referring only to members of mushroom clubs Mycophiles include a lot of people who arenrsquot in clubs including older folks whose grandmothers collected coccora in Italy people from Eastern Europe whose parents took to the forest during periodic wars and famines those from South East Asia the subject of Arorarsquos essays who sell to wholesalers survivalists who lack trust in the commercial food system and laid-off lumber workers who commercially forage in winter

Some of us hunt alone in secret locations while others enjoy the camaraderie of organized forays to popular destinations Most of us collect for the table others resemble birders who keep lists of whatever they find to satisfy intellectual curiosity Friends take art photographs - my hobby is painting mushrooms Some of us pay close attention to changes in technical nomenclature others are willing to rely upon unchanging common names

Given the rampant individualism organizing a foray is an uncertain proposition with no likelihood of precision Itrsquos not only the weather that affects attendance Twenty people sign up and you end up with six six

register and twenty appear Some people regularly sign up and never show Perhaps they died and friends register them for sentimental reasons Others fearful of commitment donrsquot confirm and always show People you think live alone arrive with an extended family people you believe to be in stable relationships arrive with new partners On a recent foray we received confirmation from members of a ldquotracking clubrdquo What or who they tracked wasnrsquot specified and it seemed prudent not to ask Some folks are scrupulous about time you can set your watch by their arrival Others are habitual latecomers For our friend Henry lateness is a power play If you want him to show up on time set the time on his invitation a half-hour early For others lateness isnrsquot a power tripmdash they have difficulty reading maps and frequently get lost There are also helpful folks who after a foray want to share their photographs Nice idea within limits but to send all of the pictures without culling editing or reducing file size Everybodyrsquos mailbox becomes clogged and without a spore print there is no way to identify an LBM even from six photographs taken at different angles In regard to unsolicited photographs Frank Lloyd Wright had it rightmdash less is more fewer are better

Organized forays have many positive features They are a good way to introduce newcomers to mushrooming There will be an experienced leader to check collections and ID unusual specimens many eyes on the ground and an ethic of sharing food knives even collected boletes Permission to collect has been obtained in advance and carpooling arranged You can carry baskets in public without the need to worry about the park ranger Another nice aspect is the possibility for vicarious experience Not everyone has to return with a loaded basket for a successful foray those who donrsquot find any morels can identify with people who do

Given the divergence of interests an unwritten rule on a foray is to avoid talking politics until you know who you are dealing with There may be folks who yoursquod rather didnrsquot vote in the next election We ran into such people on an early foray Things were fine so long as the conversation centered on mushrooms

Donrsquot Discuss Pickled LactariusBob Sommer

Page 5Mycena News November 2009

Once it strayed to politics group spirit dissolved into heated argument Survivalists saw things getting worse and no resolution except taking to the woods with guns We wondered if they were packing on this foray Eco-types wanted to ban guns from national forests Eastern Europeans whose parents ate pickled Lactarius maintained that Westerners were naiumlve about government We felt they exaggerated the culinary properties of pickled Lactarius

Despite or perhaps because of the group dynamics the gains of an organized foray far outweigh the costs Our conclusion is that mushroomers comprise a very special and enthusiastic group of folks

Pickled Lactarius (2-3 pounds of mushrooms about 2 quarts)

Wipe or brush-clean the mushrooms quarter or slice if too large Toss with frac12 cup of pickling or Kosher salt leave overnight tossing occasionally This is to wilt them drawing out some water so they will then re-absorb the pickling brine and plump up again For variety and flavor you can add some small sweet or hot peppers onions carrots celery or peeled garlic to the pickle also salt these overnite along with the mushrooms - slit the peppers to allow the salt and brine to get inside

The unpalatable ldquopepperyrdquo Lactarius species are reportedly rendered more edible by salting or pickling opinions apparently differ on this

Pickling brine

3 cups cider or white vinegar (5 acetic acid)

2 cups water

frac12 cup sugar

3 Tbsp pickling or Kosher salt (pure salt)

2 Tbsp each whole black peppercorns allspice

1 Tbsp each whole coriander and mustard seeds

2 each bay leaves cinnamon sticks and cloves

Combine the brine ingredients in a non-reactive pot that is large enough to hold the brine and the mushrooms Stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves and simmer for a few minutes Take care as the mixture can foam up a bit Clean and sanitize the jars and lids

Meanwhile place the salted mushrooms in a colander or sieve drain squeeze rinse and shake to remove as much salt and moisture as possible Add the mushrooms to the boiling pickling brine simmer for a minute Use a slotted spoon to fill the jars with the mushrooms Pack them in you want to fill the jars nicely Then pour the hot brine mixture over them Use a small spatula along with gentle tapping and rotation of the jars to fill the air spaces with the brine Final filling should be to within frac12 inch of the top

Wipe the rims of the jars Put the lids on and screw the rings on until just finger-tight then back off a quarter-turn Lower the jars into a boiling-water bath deep enough to go an inch above the tops for 10 minutes at altitudes up to 1000 feet 15 minutes from 1000 to 6000 feet and 20 minutes over 6000 feet Pull the jars out with tongs and let cool for a minute or two re-process any jars having lids that donrsquot pop down with a vacuum Screw the lids on tight when fully cool Leave in the cellar for 4 - 6 weeks before use for best flavor refrigerate after opening

Page 6 Mycena News November 2009

The October Culinary Group Mediterranean feast was enjoyed by a large and enthusiastic group We had a diverse and extensive array of delicious appetizers while Al and Bill watched over the young goat and legs of lamb cooking in our caja china When done the guys carved up the meat and served it along with our other courses Liana with her complex delicious couscous Liann with her creamy tart raita Stephanie with her melange of vegetables and mushrooms Dave with his lovely roasted figs and of course Remorsquos coffee which sends us off to our homes far and wideOur next dinner November 2nd will feature

foraged foods Members of the MSSF are invited to join the Culinary Group We are people who love mushrooming and cooking Please see the Mycena News Calendar or go to the MSSF website for a description of the Culinary Group

In lieu of a recipe here in the Culinary Corner our editor has included a recipe for mushrooms not often prepared in the US but enjoyed by many other people in this world I remember when I lived in Europe I saw species picked and enjoyed by the locals that most of us here in California disdain Years ago MSSF members who came from Eastern European countries brought pickled and otherwise prepared species we generally did not eat for us to try It was great fun

See you at dinner- Pat

Culinary Corner

Saturday

Foray notes There will be both long and short forays The short forays will return by 1230 or so and the long forays will return later in the afternoon People who want to take afternoon classes should go on the short forays and those who just want to foray should go on the long forays Norman Andresen will organize and plan the foray schedule

830 - 930 Breakfast9 - 930 Make lunches10 - 1030 Forays depart - long and short12 - 1230 Lunch ndash self-serve sandwich materials available in the morning make your own lunch then Short forays return for

2-4 Beginning mushroom identification JR Blair 1 - 4 Polypore paper making Catherine Wesley 2 ndash 530 Cultivation Seminar Session Ken Litchfield 4-530 Cooking class Andy Maxon

530-630 Foray Fruits Cooking Session DC or 630 Potluck appetizers 7 - 8 Dinner

830 Gary Lincoff Presentation in Dining Hall

Sunday

830 - 930 Breakfast 900-1000 Sandwich materials available Last chance to make lunches

930- 1130 Mushroom sketchdrawpaint class David Gardella 930 - 11 Intermediate ID class at specimen tables JR Blair 930 ndash 1130 Mushroom Dye Seminar Julie Schleuder

930 ndash 1130 Cultivation seminar continued Ken Litchfield 1130 ndash 1230 Specimen Discussion with Gary Lincoff Michael Wood JR Blair Norman Andresenhellip 1230- 200 All participants clean their own cabins Check out by 2PM

Note ndash schedules subject to adjustment

Mendocino Woodlands Foray 2009 Schedule continued

Deadline for the December 2009 issue of Mycena News is

November 16thPlease send your articles calendar items and other

information tomycenanewsmssforg

Page 7Mycena News November 2009

preferences Witte gathered some 80 species of wild mushrooms and placed fruiting bodies in the middle of ant trails While the ants ignored many types of mushrooms they swarmed and consumed some 30 species Another experiment demonstrated a line of ants could consume an entire 40 gram oyster mushroom over a course of 3 hours Although Euprenolepis was found to be capable of an omnivorous diet sampling of food particles carried by non-baited ants revealed that over 99 of their diet comes from fungal sporocarps

While Euprenolepis is not a close relative of the attines and hence does not directly answer the question of the ancestral diet of that group the study does provide an example of ant consumption of wild mushrooms that had not previously been observed It is entirely possible that many other examples of ant consumption of wild fungi exist but have simply been overlooked How widespread fungivory is among the ants and what role it played in ant domestication of fungi looks to be a promising area of study

For further reading on fungus-farming antsAngier N 1994 Ant and its fungus are ancient cohabitants New

York Times December 13 1994 Available from httptinyurlcomyg2bdyo

Social Insect Research Group Universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus 2007 Fungus-growing ants (website) Available from httptinyurlcomylhdabr

Mueller UG Rabeling C 2008 A breakthrough innovation in animal evolution PNAS 105(14)5287ndash5288 DOI 101073pnas0801464105 Available from httpwwwpnasorgcontent105145287full

Schultz T Brady S 2008 Major evolutionary transitions in ant agriculture PNAS 105(14)5435ndash5440 DOI 101073pnas0711024105 Available from httpwwwpnasorgcontent105145435long

Vo TL Mueller UG Mikheyev AS 2009 Free-living fungal symbionts (Lepiotaceae) of fungus-growing ants (Attini Formicidae) Mycologia 101(2)206ndash210 DOI 10385207-055

Fungus-foraging antsMilius S 2008 Nomadic ants hunt mushrooms Science News

July 25 2008 Available from httptinyurlcomyfulcotWitte V Maschwitz U 2008 Mushroom harvesting ants in the

tropical rain forest Naturwissenschaften 951049ndash1054 DOI 101007s00114-008-0421-9 Available from httpwwwbio-nicainfobibliotecaWitte2008MushroomHarvestingpdf

the leafcutter ants which provide substrate solely in the form of fresh leaves which are then broken down on an assembly line-like system until the final substrate is produced Leafcutter colonies are often very large (with a volume on the scale of a city bus) and consume vegetation on the scale of a large mammalian herbivore

Although it has been established that the attinefungus symbiosis sprang from a single evolutionary event the details of the origin and course of evolution of this system have been less well-understood Recently several discoveries have shed some light on these questions A 2008 paper by Ted Schultz and Seaacuten Brady of the Smithsonian Institution produced a broad phylogeny of 65 species of attine ants which was compared against the cultivation specialties of this species It was found that lower attine agriculture was indeed the most widespread and ldquoprimitiverdquo condition among the attines The shift from lower to higher attine agriculture was found to be restricted to a single specialized line representing a single evolutionary event as was the shift from general higher attine agriculture to leafcutting Similarly fungal cultivar switching a change from mycelial leucocoprinoid fungi to yeast forms of these species or to pterulaceous coral fungi were also found to be singular evolutionary events

The details of how ants first domesticated fungi also remains an open question There are two broad hypotheses on how this took place One is the ldquotransmission firstrdquo hypothesis which posits that the ancestors of attine fungi were dispersed by ants perhaps living on their colonies in a parasitic or commensal relationship until eventually becoming utilized as a food source Another is the ldquoconsumption firstrdquo model in which free-living leucocoprinoid fungi were consumed by the ants as a food source then brought into cultivation

While this question remains unanswered several recent discoveries provide some evidence for the ldquoconsumption firstrdquo hypothesis The first is a recent paper by Tracey Vo and others of the Ulrich Mueller lab at University of Texas who carried out a phylogenetic study of free-living leucocoprinoid species and attine fungal strains It was found that some strains of attine fungi are more closely related to free-living mushroom-producing strains of Leucocoprinus and Leucoagaricus than they are to each other These species are typically found unassociated with ant colonies and are capable of wind-dispersal of spores like other mushrooms This lends support to the idea that attines ldquocapturedrdquo free-living species and that they have possibly gone in and out of attine cultivation a number of times

The second discovery is that Euprenolepis procera a Southeast Asian species of formicine ant (a group not directly related to attine ants) subsists largely on wild fungi This research was carried out by a pair of German entomologists Volker Witte and Ulrich Maschwitz of University of Munich As an initial test of Euprenolepis food

MycoDigest continued

catalog the fleshy fungi of Hawaii on an NSF grant This and other collaborations led to the 2002 field guide Mushrooms of Hawaii A long-time member of the Mycological Society of America Don was awarded the Societyrsquos Weston Award for Excellence in Teaching Mycology in 1986 and named a Fellow of the Mycological Society in 2004 In 2007-2008 Don served as MSA President

Don retired this year after 36 years at UH Hilo but continues to work with Else Vellinga at UC Berkeley on the Lepiotaceous fungi of Hawaii and is also concentrating on the gasteromycetes including stinkhorns earthstars and puffballs found in the islands

Peter Werner has worked in mycology since the 1980s His studies began at the Univ of WA and as a grad student at SFSU he completed a monograph of California Psilocybes with Dennis Desjardin A frequent MycoDigest contributor Peter is an avid photographer and microscopist He recently completed a professional microscopy certification at Merritt College and wrote a buyerrsquos guide to microscopes in Mycena News (5904)

Speaker continued

Page 5Mycena News November 2009

Once it strayed to politics group spirit dissolved into heated argument Survivalists saw things getting worse and no resolution except taking to the woods with guns We wondered if they were packing on this foray Eco-types wanted to ban guns from national forests Eastern Europeans whose parents ate pickled Lactarius maintained that Westerners were naiumlve about government We felt they exaggerated the culinary properties of pickled Lactarius

Despite or perhaps because of the group dynamics the gains of an organized foray far outweigh the costs Our conclusion is that mushroomers comprise a very special and enthusiastic group of folks

Pickled Lactarius (2-3 pounds of mushrooms about 2 quarts)

Wipe or brush-clean the mushrooms quarter or slice if too large Toss with frac12 cup of pickling or Kosher salt leave overnight tossing occasionally This is to wilt them drawing out some water so they will then re-absorb the pickling brine and plump up again For variety and flavor you can add some small sweet or hot peppers onions carrots celery or peeled garlic to the pickle also salt these overnite along with the mushrooms - slit the peppers to allow the salt and brine to get inside

The unpalatable ldquopepperyrdquo Lactarius species are reportedly rendered more edible by salting or pickling opinions apparently differ on this

Pickling brine

3 cups cider or white vinegar (5 acetic acid)

2 cups water

frac12 cup sugar

3 Tbsp pickling or Kosher salt (pure salt)

2 Tbsp each whole black peppercorns allspice

1 Tbsp each whole coriander and mustard seeds

2 each bay leaves cinnamon sticks and cloves

Combine the brine ingredients in a non-reactive pot that is large enough to hold the brine and the mushrooms Stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves and simmer for a few minutes Take care as the mixture can foam up a bit Clean and sanitize the jars and lids

Meanwhile place the salted mushrooms in a colander or sieve drain squeeze rinse and shake to remove as much salt and moisture as possible Add the mushrooms to the boiling pickling brine simmer for a minute Use a slotted spoon to fill the jars with the mushrooms Pack them in you want to fill the jars nicely Then pour the hot brine mixture over them Use a small spatula along with gentle tapping and rotation of the jars to fill the air spaces with the brine Final filling should be to within frac12 inch of the top

Wipe the rims of the jars Put the lids on and screw the rings on until just finger-tight then back off a quarter-turn Lower the jars into a boiling-water bath deep enough to go an inch above the tops for 10 minutes at altitudes up to 1000 feet 15 minutes from 1000 to 6000 feet and 20 minutes over 6000 feet Pull the jars out with tongs and let cool for a minute or two re-process any jars having lids that donrsquot pop down with a vacuum Screw the lids on tight when fully cool Leave in the cellar for 4 - 6 weeks before use for best flavor refrigerate after opening

Page 6 Mycena News November 2009

The October Culinary Group Mediterranean feast was enjoyed by a large and enthusiastic group We had a diverse and extensive array of delicious appetizers while Al and Bill watched over the young goat and legs of lamb cooking in our caja china When done the guys carved up the meat and served it along with our other courses Liana with her complex delicious couscous Liann with her creamy tart raita Stephanie with her melange of vegetables and mushrooms Dave with his lovely roasted figs and of course Remorsquos coffee which sends us off to our homes far and wideOur next dinner November 2nd will feature

foraged foods Members of the MSSF are invited to join the Culinary Group We are people who love mushrooming and cooking Please see the Mycena News Calendar or go to the MSSF website for a description of the Culinary Group

In lieu of a recipe here in the Culinary Corner our editor has included a recipe for mushrooms not often prepared in the US but enjoyed by many other people in this world I remember when I lived in Europe I saw species picked and enjoyed by the locals that most of us here in California disdain Years ago MSSF members who came from Eastern European countries brought pickled and otherwise prepared species we generally did not eat for us to try It was great fun

See you at dinner- Pat

Culinary Corner

Saturday

Foray notes There will be both long and short forays The short forays will return by 1230 or so and the long forays will return later in the afternoon People who want to take afternoon classes should go on the short forays and those who just want to foray should go on the long forays Norman Andresen will organize and plan the foray schedule

830 - 930 Breakfast9 - 930 Make lunches10 - 1030 Forays depart - long and short12 - 1230 Lunch ndash self-serve sandwich materials available in the morning make your own lunch then Short forays return for

2-4 Beginning mushroom identification JR Blair 1 - 4 Polypore paper making Catherine Wesley 2 ndash 530 Cultivation Seminar Session Ken Litchfield 4-530 Cooking class Andy Maxon

530-630 Foray Fruits Cooking Session DC or 630 Potluck appetizers 7 - 8 Dinner

830 Gary Lincoff Presentation in Dining Hall

Sunday

830 - 930 Breakfast 900-1000 Sandwich materials available Last chance to make lunches

930- 1130 Mushroom sketchdrawpaint class David Gardella 930 - 11 Intermediate ID class at specimen tables JR Blair 930 ndash 1130 Mushroom Dye Seminar Julie Schleuder

930 ndash 1130 Cultivation seminar continued Ken Litchfield 1130 ndash 1230 Specimen Discussion with Gary Lincoff Michael Wood JR Blair Norman Andresenhellip 1230- 200 All participants clean their own cabins Check out by 2PM

Note ndash schedules subject to adjustment

Mendocino Woodlands Foray 2009 Schedule continued

Deadline for the December 2009 issue of Mycena News is

November 16thPlease send your articles calendar items and other

information tomycenanewsmssforg

Page 7Mycena News November 2009

preferences Witte gathered some 80 species of wild mushrooms and placed fruiting bodies in the middle of ant trails While the ants ignored many types of mushrooms they swarmed and consumed some 30 species Another experiment demonstrated a line of ants could consume an entire 40 gram oyster mushroom over a course of 3 hours Although Euprenolepis was found to be capable of an omnivorous diet sampling of food particles carried by non-baited ants revealed that over 99 of their diet comes from fungal sporocarps

While Euprenolepis is not a close relative of the attines and hence does not directly answer the question of the ancestral diet of that group the study does provide an example of ant consumption of wild mushrooms that had not previously been observed It is entirely possible that many other examples of ant consumption of wild fungi exist but have simply been overlooked How widespread fungivory is among the ants and what role it played in ant domestication of fungi looks to be a promising area of study

For further reading on fungus-farming antsAngier N 1994 Ant and its fungus are ancient cohabitants New

York Times December 13 1994 Available from httptinyurlcomyg2bdyo

Social Insect Research Group Universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus 2007 Fungus-growing ants (website) Available from httptinyurlcomylhdabr

Mueller UG Rabeling C 2008 A breakthrough innovation in animal evolution PNAS 105(14)5287ndash5288 DOI 101073pnas0801464105 Available from httpwwwpnasorgcontent105145287full

Schultz T Brady S 2008 Major evolutionary transitions in ant agriculture PNAS 105(14)5435ndash5440 DOI 101073pnas0711024105 Available from httpwwwpnasorgcontent105145435long

Vo TL Mueller UG Mikheyev AS 2009 Free-living fungal symbionts (Lepiotaceae) of fungus-growing ants (Attini Formicidae) Mycologia 101(2)206ndash210 DOI 10385207-055

Fungus-foraging antsMilius S 2008 Nomadic ants hunt mushrooms Science News

July 25 2008 Available from httptinyurlcomyfulcotWitte V Maschwitz U 2008 Mushroom harvesting ants in the

tropical rain forest Naturwissenschaften 951049ndash1054 DOI 101007s00114-008-0421-9 Available from httpwwwbio-nicainfobibliotecaWitte2008MushroomHarvestingpdf

the leafcutter ants which provide substrate solely in the form of fresh leaves which are then broken down on an assembly line-like system until the final substrate is produced Leafcutter colonies are often very large (with a volume on the scale of a city bus) and consume vegetation on the scale of a large mammalian herbivore

Although it has been established that the attinefungus symbiosis sprang from a single evolutionary event the details of the origin and course of evolution of this system have been less well-understood Recently several discoveries have shed some light on these questions A 2008 paper by Ted Schultz and Seaacuten Brady of the Smithsonian Institution produced a broad phylogeny of 65 species of attine ants which was compared against the cultivation specialties of this species It was found that lower attine agriculture was indeed the most widespread and ldquoprimitiverdquo condition among the attines The shift from lower to higher attine agriculture was found to be restricted to a single specialized line representing a single evolutionary event as was the shift from general higher attine agriculture to leafcutting Similarly fungal cultivar switching a change from mycelial leucocoprinoid fungi to yeast forms of these species or to pterulaceous coral fungi were also found to be singular evolutionary events

The details of how ants first domesticated fungi also remains an open question There are two broad hypotheses on how this took place One is the ldquotransmission firstrdquo hypothesis which posits that the ancestors of attine fungi were dispersed by ants perhaps living on their colonies in a parasitic or commensal relationship until eventually becoming utilized as a food source Another is the ldquoconsumption firstrdquo model in which free-living leucocoprinoid fungi were consumed by the ants as a food source then brought into cultivation

While this question remains unanswered several recent discoveries provide some evidence for the ldquoconsumption firstrdquo hypothesis The first is a recent paper by Tracey Vo and others of the Ulrich Mueller lab at University of Texas who carried out a phylogenetic study of free-living leucocoprinoid species and attine fungal strains It was found that some strains of attine fungi are more closely related to free-living mushroom-producing strains of Leucocoprinus and Leucoagaricus than they are to each other These species are typically found unassociated with ant colonies and are capable of wind-dispersal of spores like other mushrooms This lends support to the idea that attines ldquocapturedrdquo free-living species and that they have possibly gone in and out of attine cultivation a number of times

The second discovery is that Euprenolepis procera a Southeast Asian species of formicine ant (a group not directly related to attine ants) subsists largely on wild fungi This research was carried out by a pair of German entomologists Volker Witte and Ulrich Maschwitz of University of Munich As an initial test of Euprenolepis food

MycoDigest continued

catalog the fleshy fungi of Hawaii on an NSF grant This and other collaborations led to the 2002 field guide Mushrooms of Hawaii A long-time member of the Mycological Society of America Don was awarded the Societyrsquos Weston Award for Excellence in Teaching Mycology in 1986 and named a Fellow of the Mycological Society in 2004 In 2007-2008 Don served as MSA President

Don retired this year after 36 years at UH Hilo but continues to work with Else Vellinga at UC Berkeley on the Lepiotaceous fungi of Hawaii and is also concentrating on the gasteromycetes including stinkhorns earthstars and puffballs found in the islands

Peter Werner has worked in mycology since the 1980s His studies began at the Univ of WA and as a grad student at SFSU he completed a monograph of California Psilocybes with Dennis Desjardin A frequent MycoDigest contributor Peter is an avid photographer and microscopist He recently completed a professional microscopy certification at Merritt College and wrote a buyerrsquos guide to microscopes in Mycena News (5904)

Speaker continued

Page 6 Mycena News November 2009

The October Culinary Group Mediterranean feast was enjoyed by a large and enthusiastic group We had a diverse and extensive array of delicious appetizers while Al and Bill watched over the young goat and legs of lamb cooking in our caja china When done the guys carved up the meat and served it along with our other courses Liana with her complex delicious couscous Liann with her creamy tart raita Stephanie with her melange of vegetables and mushrooms Dave with his lovely roasted figs and of course Remorsquos coffee which sends us off to our homes far and wideOur next dinner November 2nd will feature

foraged foods Members of the MSSF are invited to join the Culinary Group We are people who love mushrooming and cooking Please see the Mycena News Calendar or go to the MSSF website for a description of the Culinary Group

In lieu of a recipe here in the Culinary Corner our editor has included a recipe for mushrooms not often prepared in the US but enjoyed by many other people in this world I remember when I lived in Europe I saw species picked and enjoyed by the locals that most of us here in California disdain Years ago MSSF members who came from Eastern European countries brought pickled and otherwise prepared species we generally did not eat for us to try It was great fun

See you at dinner- Pat

Culinary Corner

Saturday

Foray notes There will be both long and short forays The short forays will return by 1230 or so and the long forays will return later in the afternoon People who want to take afternoon classes should go on the short forays and those who just want to foray should go on the long forays Norman Andresen will organize and plan the foray schedule

830 - 930 Breakfast9 - 930 Make lunches10 - 1030 Forays depart - long and short12 - 1230 Lunch ndash self-serve sandwich materials available in the morning make your own lunch then Short forays return for

2-4 Beginning mushroom identification JR Blair 1 - 4 Polypore paper making Catherine Wesley 2 ndash 530 Cultivation Seminar Session Ken Litchfield 4-530 Cooking class Andy Maxon

530-630 Foray Fruits Cooking Session DC or 630 Potluck appetizers 7 - 8 Dinner

830 Gary Lincoff Presentation in Dining Hall

Sunday

830 - 930 Breakfast 900-1000 Sandwich materials available Last chance to make lunches

930- 1130 Mushroom sketchdrawpaint class David Gardella 930 - 11 Intermediate ID class at specimen tables JR Blair 930 ndash 1130 Mushroom Dye Seminar Julie Schleuder

930 ndash 1130 Cultivation seminar continued Ken Litchfield 1130 ndash 1230 Specimen Discussion with Gary Lincoff Michael Wood JR Blair Norman Andresenhellip 1230- 200 All participants clean their own cabins Check out by 2PM

Note ndash schedules subject to adjustment

Mendocino Woodlands Foray 2009 Schedule continued

Deadline for the December 2009 issue of Mycena News is

November 16thPlease send your articles calendar items and other

information tomycenanewsmssforg

Page 7Mycena News November 2009

preferences Witte gathered some 80 species of wild mushrooms and placed fruiting bodies in the middle of ant trails While the ants ignored many types of mushrooms they swarmed and consumed some 30 species Another experiment demonstrated a line of ants could consume an entire 40 gram oyster mushroom over a course of 3 hours Although Euprenolepis was found to be capable of an omnivorous diet sampling of food particles carried by non-baited ants revealed that over 99 of their diet comes from fungal sporocarps

While Euprenolepis is not a close relative of the attines and hence does not directly answer the question of the ancestral diet of that group the study does provide an example of ant consumption of wild mushrooms that had not previously been observed It is entirely possible that many other examples of ant consumption of wild fungi exist but have simply been overlooked How widespread fungivory is among the ants and what role it played in ant domestication of fungi looks to be a promising area of study

For further reading on fungus-farming antsAngier N 1994 Ant and its fungus are ancient cohabitants New

York Times December 13 1994 Available from httptinyurlcomyg2bdyo

Social Insect Research Group Universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus 2007 Fungus-growing ants (website) Available from httptinyurlcomylhdabr

Mueller UG Rabeling C 2008 A breakthrough innovation in animal evolution PNAS 105(14)5287ndash5288 DOI 101073pnas0801464105 Available from httpwwwpnasorgcontent105145287full

Schultz T Brady S 2008 Major evolutionary transitions in ant agriculture PNAS 105(14)5435ndash5440 DOI 101073pnas0711024105 Available from httpwwwpnasorgcontent105145435long

Vo TL Mueller UG Mikheyev AS 2009 Free-living fungal symbionts (Lepiotaceae) of fungus-growing ants (Attini Formicidae) Mycologia 101(2)206ndash210 DOI 10385207-055

Fungus-foraging antsMilius S 2008 Nomadic ants hunt mushrooms Science News

July 25 2008 Available from httptinyurlcomyfulcotWitte V Maschwitz U 2008 Mushroom harvesting ants in the

tropical rain forest Naturwissenschaften 951049ndash1054 DOI 101007s00114-008-0421-9 Available from httpwwwbio-nicainfobibliotecaWitte2008MushroomHarvestingpdf

the leafcutter ants which provide substrate solely in the form of fresh leaves which are then broken down on an assembly line-like system until the final substrate is produced Leafcutter colonies are often very large (with a volume on the scale of a city bus) and consume vegetation on the scale of a large mammalian herbivore

Although it has been established that the attinefungus symbiosis sprang from a single evolutionary event the details of the origin and course of evolution of this system have been less well-understood Recently several discoveries have shed some light on these questions A 2008 paper by Ted Schultz and Seaacuten Brady of the Smithsonian Institution produced a broad phylogeny of 65 species of attine ants which was compared against the cultivation specialties of this species It was found that lower attine agriculture was indeed the most widespread and ldquoprimitiverdquo condition among the attines The shift from lower to higher attine agriculture was found to be restricted to a single specialized line representing a single evolutionary event as was the shift from general higher attine agriculture to leafcutting Similarly fungal cultivar switching a change from mycelial leucocoprinoid fungi to yeast forms of these species or to pterulaceous coral fungi were also found to be singular evolutionary events

The details of how ants first domesticated fungi also remains an open question There are two broad hypotheses on how this took place One is the ldquotransmission firstrdquo hypothesis which posits that the ancestors of attine fungi were dispersed by ants perhaps living on their colonies in a parasitic or commensal relationship until eventually becoming utilized as a food source Another is the ldquoconsumption firstrdquo model in which free-living leucocoprinoid fungi were consumed by the ants as a food source then brought into cultivation

While this question remains unanswered several recent discoveries provide some evidence for the ldquoconsumption firstrdquo hypothesis The first is a recent paper by Tracey Vo and others of the Ulrich Mueller lab at University of Texas who carried out a phylogenetic study of free-living leucocoprinoid species and attine fungal strains It was found that some strains of attine fungi are more closely related to free-living mushroom-producing strains of Leucocoprinus and Leucoagaricus than they are to each other These species are typically found unassociated with ant colonies and are capable of wind-dispersal of spores like other mushrooms This lends support to the idea that attines ldquocapturedrdquo free-living species and that they have possibly gone in and out of attine cultivation a number of times

The second discovery is that Euprenolepis procera a Southeast Asian species of formicine ant (a group not directly related to attine ants) subsists largely on wild fungi This research was carried out by a pair of German entomologists Volker Witte and Ulrich Maschwitz of University of Munich As an initial test of Euprenolepis food

MycoDigest continued

catalog the fleshy fungi of Hawaii on an NSF grant This and other collaborations led to the 2002 field guide Mushrooms of Hawaii A long-time member of the Mycological Society of America Don was awarded the Societyrsquos Weston Award for Excellence in Teaching Mycology in 1986 and named a Fellow of the Mycological Society in 2004 In 2007-2008 Don served as MSA President

Don retired this year after 36 years at UH Hilo but continues to work with Else Vellinga at UC Berkeley on the Lepiotaceous fungi of Hawaii and is also concentrating on the gasteromycetes including stinkhorns earthstars and puffballs found in the islands

Peter Werner has worked in mycology since the 1980s His studies began at the Univ of WA and as a grad student at SFSU he completed a monograph of California Psilocybes with Dennis Desjardin A frequent MycoDigest contributor Peter is an avid photographer and microscopist He recently completed a professional microscopy certification at Merritt College and wrote a buyerrsquos guide to microscopes in Mycena News (5904)

Speaker continued

Page 7Mycena News November 2009

preferences Witte gathered some 80 species of wild mushrooms and placed fruiting bodies in the middle of ant trails While the ants ignored many types of mushrooms they swarmed and consumed some 30 species Another experiment demonstrated a line of ants could consume an entire 40 gram oyster mushroom over a course of 3 hours Although Euprenolepis was found to be capable of an omnivorous diet sampling of food particles carried by non-baited ants revealed that over 99 of their diet comes from fungal sporocarps

While Euprenolepis is not a close relative of the attines and hence does not directly answer the question of the ancestral diet of that group the study does provide an example of ant consumption of wild mushrooms that had not previously been observed It is entirely possible that many other examples of ant consumption of wild fungi exist but have simply been overlooked How widespread fungivory is among the ants and what role it played in ant domestication of fungi looks to be a promising area of study

For further reading on fungus-farming antsAngier N 1994 Ant and its fungus are ancient cohabitants New

York Times December 13 1994 Available from httptinyurlcomyg2bdyo

Social Insect Research Group Universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus 2007 Fungus-growing ants (website) Available from httptinyurlcomylhdabr

Mueller UG Rabeling C 2008 A breakthrough innovation in animal evolution PNAS 105(14)5287ndash5288 DOI 101073pnas0801464105 Available from httpwwwpnasorgcontent105145287full

Schultz T Brady S 2008 Major evolutionary transitions in ant agriculture PNAS 105(14)5435ndash5440 DOI 101073pnas0711024105 Available from httpwwwpnasorgcontent105145435long

Vo TL Mueller UG Mikheyev AS 2009 Free-living fungal symbionts (Lepiotaceae) of fungus-growing ants (Attini Formicidae) Mycologia 101(2)206ndash210 DOI 10385207-055

Fungus-foraging antsMilius S 2008 Nomadic ants hunt mushrooms Science News

July 25 2008 Available from httptinyurlcomyfulcotWitte V Maschwitz U 2008 Mushroom harvesting ants in the

tropical rain forest Naturwissenschaften 951049ndash1054 DOI 101007s00114-008-0421-9 Available from httpwwwbio-nicainfobibliotecaWitte2008MushroomHarvestingpdf

the leafcutter ants which provide substrate solely in the form of fresh leaves which are then broken down on an assembly line-like system until the final substrate is produced Leafcutter colonies are often very large (with a volume on the scale of a city bus) and consume vegetation on the scale of a large mammalian herbivore

Although it has been established that the attinefungus symbiosis sprang from a single evolutionary event the details of the origin and course of evolution of this system have been less well-understood Recently several discoveries have shed some light on these questions A 2008 paper by Ted Schultz and Seaacuten Brady of the Smithsonian Institution produced a broad phylogeny of 65 species of attine ants which was compared against the cultivation specialties of this species It was found that lower attine agriculture was indeed the most widespread and ldquoprimitiverdquo condition among the attines The shift from lower to higher attine agriculture was found to be restricted to a single specialized line representing a single evolutionary event as was the shift from general higher attine agriculture to leafcutting Similarly fungal cultivar switching a change from mycelial leucocoprinoid fungi to yeast forms of these species or to pterulaceous coral fungi were also found to be singular evolutionary events

The details of how ants first domesticated fungi also remains an open question There are two broad hypotheses on how this took place One is the ldquotransmission firstrdquo hypothesis which posits that the ancestors of attine fungi were dispersed by ants perhaps living on their colonies in a parasitic or commensal relationship until eventually becoming utilized as a food source Another is the ldquoconsumption firstrdquo model in which free-living leucocoprinoid fungi were consumed by the ants as a food source then brought into cultivation

While this question remains unanswered several recent discoveries provide some evidence for the ldquoconsumption firstrdquo hypothesis The first is a recent paper by Tracey Vo and others of the Ulrich Mueller lab at University of Texas who carried out a phylogenetic study of free-living leucocoprinoid species and attine fungal strains It was found that some strains of attine fungi are more closely related to free-living mushroom-producing strains of Leucocoprinus and Leucoagaricus than they are to each other These species are typically found unassociated with ant colonies and are capable of wind-dispersal of spores like other mushrooms This lends support to the idea that attines ldquocapturedrdquo free-living species and that they have possibly gone in and out of attine cultivation a number of times

The second discovery is that Euprenolepis procera a Southeast Asian species of formicine ant (a group not directly related to attine ants) subsists largely on wild fungi This research was carried out by a pair of German entomologists Volker Witte and Ulrich Maschwitz of University of Munich As an initial test of Euprenolepis food

MycoDigest continued

catalog the fleshy fungi of Hawaii on an NSF grant This and other collaborations led to the 2002 field guide Mushrooms of Hawaii A long-time member of the Mycological Society of America Don was awarded the Societyrsquos Weston Award for Excellence in Teaching Mycology in 1986 and named a Fellow of the Mycological Society in 2004 In 2007-2008 Don served as MSA President

Don retired this year after 36 years at UH Hilo but continues to work with Else Vellinga at UC Berkeley on the Lepiotaceous fungi of Hawaii and is also concentrating on the gasteromycetes including stinkhorns earthstars and puffballs found in the islands

Peter Werner has worked in mycology since the 1980s His studies began at the Univ of WA and as a grad student at SFSU he completed a monograph of California Psilocybes with Dennis Desjardin A frequent MycoDigest contributor Peter is an avid photographer and microscopist He recently completed a professional microscopy certification at Merritt College and wrote a buyerrsquos guide to microscopes in Mycena News (5904)

Speaker continued

Mycological Society of San Franciscoco The Randall Museum199 Museum WaySan Francisco CA 94114

First Class MailuS Postage

PAIDOakland CA

Permit No 1451

November 2009 vol 6008

MSSF Calendar November 2009Monday November 2d 7 pm - Culinary Group Dinner

SF County Fair Building (Hall of Flowers) Golden Gate Park 9th and Lincoln Our menu will be centered on foraged food Contact Pat George at (510) 204-9130 or plgeorge33yahoocom by Friday Oct 30th to reserve limited to 60 diners Remember to bring your own tableware as the venue does not provide dishes etc Also bring a beverage and an appetizer to share preferably but not restricted to mushrooms or other foraged foods There is no Culinary Group meeting in December as we have the Holiday Dinner the general grouprsquos grand feast Our next Culinary Group dinner will be in January 2010

Monday November 4th 10 am - Marin Mushroom HikeThe latest in a series of weekly forays with Terry Sullivan for more information and to reserve a spot go to Terryrsquos bloghttpbiologyhikeshomecomcastnet~biologyhikesmushroomhtm

Thursday November 12th 7pm Beginning Mushroom ID Workshop San Francisco State University Hensill Hall 401 This workshop will introduce participants to the macroscopic features and descriptive terms used in the identification of mushrooms Prerequisite for Intermediate ID Workshops Instructor JR Blair Sign up by contacting JR at jrblairmssforg or 650-728-9405 Cost Free to MSSF members $5 for non-members Limited to 15 participants

Saturday November 14th 7 pm - Salt Point pot luck foray Meet at Gerstle Cove campground at 930 am for a walk and talk Return to the campsite about 200 commence preparing a potluck I will bring a stove lamps and a tarp Be prepared to cook the mushrooms we find or not if the collecting is poor This can often be the beginning of the bolete season with many toothsome companion fungi

Tuesday November 17th 7 pm - MSSF General Meeting Randall Museum 7 pm mushroom identification and refreshments provided by the Hospitality Committee 8 pm Don Hemmes will talk about the mycologists who have made major contributions to our knowledge of fleshy fungi in Hawaii and show many examples of mushrooms and other fungi found in the islands

Thursday November 19th 7pm Intermediate Mushroom ID Workshop San Francisco State University Hensill Hall 401 This workshop will utilize popular field guides to identify fresh mushrooms The Beginning ID Workshop is a prerequisite for this workshop Instructor JR Blair Sign up by contacting JR at jrblairmssforg or calling him at 650-728-9405 Cost Free to MSSF members $500 for non-members Limited to 15 participants

SatSunday November 21st-22d - Mendo Woodlands ForaySee page 2 for full announcement with schedule and registration

or go to wwwmssforgMendo

SatSunday November 27th-29th - Arorarsquos Mendo ForayFor info and reservations go to davidaroracom

Ongoing November-March - Landrsquos End study collectionsWe need volunteers to make early morning sweeps of assigned sectors of the Landrsquos End area between 700 and 830 am November through March Contact Eric Multhaup at mullewcomcastnet

SatSunday December 4th-5th - MSSF Fungus FairLawrence Hall of Science Berkeley

Our 40th year See page 3 for details and how to volunteer